Welding guns for application of a weld to a desired site generally are provided at the remote end of a conduit in which is located a continuous weld wire extending from a wire source and a power cable extending from a power source. Often such welding guns are of the vacuum type which permit undesirable fumes to be removed from the welding site through the conduit.
Traditionally, this conduit has been of corrugated construction along the whole length thereof, but such structure provides no support for the weld wire or power cable and can wear through to expose the electrical power cable. In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,823, there is described a novel multipassage flexible smooth-surfaced conduit which overcomes the problems of the prior art.
In some instances, however, the conduit of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,823 is not sufficiently flexible to permit the ideal manoeuvrability of the welding gun head to make welds, particularly in hard-to-get-at locations.